


The Pack: PI Cal State

by iantosgal



Series: The Pack: Paranormal Investigators [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Gen, Ghosts, M/M, ghost hunter!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-11
Packaged: 2018-02-07 19:16:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1910601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iantosgal/pseuds/iantosgal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>“Hey, I'm Stiles Stilinski and you're watching The Pack. Today we are out and about in sunny California and we're visiting a college that's appeared on a list of the top 10 most haunted colleges in the US and is a hotspot for paranormal activity...Cal State University Chanel Islands.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Stiles stood back and opened his arms wide, gesturing to the college behind him. The camera zoomed out so that the building could be seen it's entirety. </em>
</p><p> <br/>AU in which the pack are all ghost hunters embarking on a brand new tv series where they head out to haunted places and capture evidence of hauntings on camera. </p><p>Along the way, we learn a lot about fear, we see relationships grow, and above all, we get to experience all the creepy alongside them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Episode One: The Walk Through

“Hey, I'm Stiles Stilinski and you're watching The Pack. Today we are out and about in sunny California and we're visiting a college that's appeared on a list of the top 10 most haunted colleges in the US and is a hotspot for paranormal activity...Cal State University Chanel Islands.”

Stiles stood back and opened his arms wide, gesturing to the college behind him. The camera zoomed out so that the building could be seen it's entirety. 

“We've got the whole Pack here today. My lovely co-lead Mr Derek Hale.” Derek waved at the camera and then pushed it away so that it was focused back on Stiles who laughed. “Behind the camera, we've got my good buddy Scott McCall.” A second camera picked up Scott who stuck out his tongue before looking back at his own camera. Stiles turned to face the second camera and Scott followed him, focussing on their second tech, thick curls half hidden beneath a pair of large headphones. “Behind camera number two, we have the ever cold Isaac Lahey...seriously, dude, why are you wearing a scarf?” Isaac gave Stiles the finger and smirked. “And then these two lovely ladies are Allison Argent, our talented demonologist.” Allison grinned with a hint of shyness. “And the fiery red head Miss Lydia Martin, resident psychic.”

“I'd prefer you introduce me as a parapsychologist.”

“Why? Are you suddenly not psychic?”

“Oh no, I'm still psychic but I'm so much more than that,” Lydia replied with a grin.

“Ok, duly noted. So, my beautiful Lore Queen, fill us in on Cal State.”

“Sure thing. Before Cal State was a university, it was Camarillo State Mental Hospital and was used from 1936 to 1997. It was the pioneer in treating illnesses that were thought to be untreatable, including schizophrenia and autism.”

“Where any of the inmates criminally insane?” Scott asked, from behind the camera. 

“No, not at all. They were sent to Atascadero State Hospital instead. But there are still a lot of reasons for malevolent spirits to be here. Putting aside the obvious concerns of mental instability, which caused many inmates to take their own life, there are also the rumours of questionable medical practices.”

“What do you mean?” Derek asked, and Isaac zoomed his camera into the pensive look on Derek's face whilst the older man wasn't looking. 

“I mean that there are rumours that some patients were killed by doctor's performing experiments on them.”

“Are you serious?” Derek asked, eyebrow raised. 

“Yes, in fact, from what I've heard, I'd go so far as to call it torture. There are also unsubstantiated reports that some of the patients may have killed people, both in the old hospital and the old parking lot.”

“There's been quite a few sightings around the parking lot,” Stiles commented. 

“Yes, but as I say, I don't know for sure. It could all just be hearsay.”

“Ok,” Stiles said, talking down the camera. “So, what we're gonna do now is meet out contact, James Bradley, and he's gonna give us a tour of the hotspots and hopefully we'll see if we can find a few eye witnesses to some of the ghostly goings on here.”

***THEPACKPI***

“So this Mr James Bradley, the head caretaker here at Cal State and he's going to show us around and point out the places that seem to see the most activity.” 

James smiled and then headed across the parking lot; Stiles, Derek and the others, hot on his heels. 

“The parking lot actually sees a fair amount of paranormal activity,” James said. “I've had people say their car doors have slammed themselves shut, that their car started jolting like someone was shoving the back end...is she ok?” 

Isaac moved his camera round to focus on Lydia who was sobbing into Derek's shoulder. Derek looked terrified and awkward as he patted her on the back. 

“Lyd, you ok?” Allison asked, taking a step towards her. 

“I...I'm...Oh my God,” Lydia gasped, standing back from Derek and scrubbing her hands across her face. “I don't know what just happened. It's like I stepped off the curb and it was like this wash of utter despair just swept through me.”

“You're not the first person to say that,” James said. “I've known potential students decide not to come here purely because of how sad they felt when they pulled up to take a look around.”

“That's pretty extreme,” Stiles said. “I mean, that's some seriously intense emotions to be getting from a parking lot. What was here before?”

“Back when it was a hospital?”James asked. Stiles nodded. “Back then, this was a courtyard for the patients.”

“So this is where they came to kind of sit out in the sun and relax?”

“Yeah, exactly. But these people, they had serious mental issues and many of them were incredibly depressed.”

“It's not surprising that kind of intense sadness would leave a scar,” Derek said. 

“What are you guys filming?” someone called out.

“Hey man,” Stiles said, giving the guy that had spoken a wave. “We're doing a show about the paranormal activity at the school.”

“Oh cool, you mean like the guy in the old courtyard?”

“You mean the parking lot?”

“No, man the courtyard by the bus stop?”

Stiles walked over to the guy who offered his hand. Stiles shook it and beckoned Scott to follow him. 

“Do you study here?” Stiles asked.

“Nah, my girlfriend does. I sometimes meet her after class and we head into Oxnard on the bus. I meet her at the bus stop and there's definitely something there.”

“Would you mind showing us and telling us what you've seen?” Stiles asked. 

“Sure thing.”

“You alright if we do that right quick, James?”

“Of course,” James said.

“I'm Stiles by the way. What's your name?”

“I'm Craig.”

Craig led the way over to a bus stop near a high wall.

“So, I'll be sitting here like this.” He sat down on the bench and Stiles followed suit. “And if you listen, you can hear really distinct footsteps on the other side of the wall.”

Everyone fell silent, but they couldn't hear anything.

“Does it always happen?” Derek asked.

“Yeah, without fail.”

Stiles climbed up so he was standing on the bench and craned his neck to see if he could see over the wall. 

“Get up here, get a shot of this,” he said, reaching out to take the camera from Scott's hands so his friend could climb up beside him. Scott took the camera back and angled it over the wall. Isaac kept his camera focussed on the two of them as they all fell silent again. 

“What's over there?” Allison asked, softly. 

“It's like an abandoned building and a courtyard but it's completely overgrown,” Stiles said. 

“I'm just getting shots of bushes, trees, weeds,” Scott said. “It's like a freaking jungle over....”

“Shh shh shh,” Stiles said suddenly, holding a finger to his lips. “Did you guys hear that?”

Once again, they fell silent. For a second, there was nothing and then the sound of pacing footsteps could be heard on the other side of the wall. 

“Fuck,” Scott whispered, lifting his camera higher to try and get an angle where he could see straight down the other side of the wall. “Shit, dude, there's no way there's room for anyone to be walking there.”

“Is someone there?” Stiles called. The footsteps stopped. “If you're there just pop your head up and say hi for the camera.” They waited with baited breath but nothing happened. 

“There's no way,” Scott emphasised, looking down Isaac's camera. “No freaking way anyone is just pacing by the wall.”

“There's not enough room, no where near enough room,” Stiles agreed. 

“It's always the footsteps and pretty often something will come flying over the top of the wall,” Craig said.

“Stuff like what?” Derek asked. 

“Like, branches, stones, shit like that.”

“I feel like there is something just waiting on the other side of that wall,” Lydia said. “Whoever it is, they think throwing stuff and freaking people out is really funny.”

“So you don't think they mean any harm?” James asked. 

“On no, absolutely not.”

“We should get on with the tour,” Stiles said, turning away from the wall. As if on cue the footsteps sounded again and a rock flew over them and landed in between Isaac and Allison, making them jump to one side. “I'm sorry, are you not happy that we're leaving?” Stiles called over the wall. “Are we not paying enough attention to you?” Again, there was silence. “Ok, let's just get out of here.” Stiles jumped down and helped Scott off the bench. They headed back towards the main college. “I don't think I've ever had a spirit get pissed that I'm ignoring them before,” he laughed. 

“Yeah, they're normally pissed that you won't leave them alone,” Isaac said.

“Taunting them is part of my job,” Stiles replied. “Thanks so much for showing us that, Craig.” Stiles shook the guys hand and with a wave he was off. Stiles turned to Isaac's camera. “”That's gotta be some kind of record. Barely here twenty minutes and it's the middle of the day and we've already had our first encounter.”

“I've got a good feeling about this,” Lydia said, with a smirk.

“The psychic has spoken,” Isaac commented and received a viscous flick to his temple in return. 

***THEPACKPI***

James led them to the lower class dorms: Anacapa and Santa Cruz.

“There's been so much activity in the dorms,” James explained. “I've seen stuff here.”

“What did you see?” Derek asked. 

“I've seen a lamp start just shaking so much it's moved across the table. It was like there was a little isolated earthquake around it.”

“Really?” Stiles said. 

“It's actually really rare to see a spirit that is able to move objects like that. Tapping and pushing doors is fairly common,” Lydia explained. “But the hinges on doors and windows make it easier for the spirit to control it. They can throw all their weight against it and the door itself will do the rest.”

“Moving a lamp means the spirit was actually trying to lift it, rather than push it,” Allison added. “It takes a lot more energy to do that.”

“So, whatever spirits are in here are likely to be not just very active but very powerful?” Derek queried. 

“Exactly,” Lydia said. 

“Is there any other eyewitnesses here now that we can talk to?” Derek asked. 

“Obviously, it's the summer so there's not a lot of students still around,” Stiles clarified for the audience. “We couldn't really do this in term time because we would have had to clear out the dorms for the whole night or we risked contaminating the evidence with pranksters and stuff like that.”

“I asked this one girl to come back because she's made the most reports of stuff happening,” James said and led the group down the corridor to a door numbered 23. He knocked twice and the door opened revealing a young woman with vibrant blue hair that cascade half way down her back, hipster glasses and a lip piercing that glinted when she smiled. “This is Beth.”

“Hey, it's nice to meet you Beth,” Stiles said, holding out his hand. Beth shook it warmly and stood aside. 

“Come on in,” she said. 

“So, would you be up for telling us what you've seen?” Derek asked, once everyone had filed inside. 

“Oh yeah, sure,” she said, perching on the end of the stripped bed. The room was pretty much bare except for the standard furniture: bed, chest of drawers, bedside table, desk. “A lot of what I experienced happened in this room. Me and my friend, Chloe, were working on a paper in here and it was getting pretty late. I always locked the door when I was studying because sometimes, other people in the dorm just have a habit of wandering in trying to get you to go to parties or just being distracting. So, I know for a fact the door was locked but we were sitting there and we heard this click, like the sound of a door being unlocked. I remember looking over and just watching as the door started opening all by itself.”

“This door right here?” Derek asked, pointing at the main door. Beth nodded and Derek walked over to it and pulled it open. He let go and it swung shut with a loud clunk. “That's a fairly heavy door. There's no way that's gonna open inwards in the wind or something like that.”

“What else have you seen?” Stiles asked.

“Here? Or round the rest of campus?”

“Both.”

“Well, in here it's mostly noises. Like bangs and I've heard voices before but it was hard to hear what they were saying. I woke up once and I was so sure there was a woman at the end of my bed but when I blinked she was gone.”

“You saw a full apparition?” Allison asked. 

“Maybe. I wasn't fully awake, it might have just been a face.”

“Will we be able to film in here tonight?” Stiles asked James. 

“Yeah of course.”

“Great,” Derek said. “Isaac, put an X over in that corner. That should give us a wide shot of the whole room that covers the door and the bed.”

Isaac pulled a roll of duct tape from his pocket and bent to put a large cross on the floor.

“When we come back later,” Isaac explained, glancing up at Scott's camera. “We'll put static camera's in these spots to capture things we might miss if we're out of the room or our cameras are focused on something else.”

“Where else have you seen things?” Stiles asked. 

“I've heard Boulder Dan a few times.”

“Who's Boulder Dan?” Isaac asked. 

“He was a patient at Camarillo who escaped. You can hear him screaming out by the hill and sometimes he throws rocks at people.”

“Like our friend in the courtyard,” Lydia commented. 

“Beth, you've been great, thanks,” Stiles said. 

“No problem.”

***THEPACKPI***

“We're heading out to the South Quad now,” James explained. “I'll show you the abandoned building which has had more reports than anywhere else.”

James led them through a long hallway lined with yellow lockers and out in an open field near a parking lot. On the right, was large building which was locked up; bars at the windows and chains at the door. Scott angled the camera in between the bars on one of the windows. The floor was littered with yellowing papers and what looked like old medical equipment. 

James unlocked the door and led them inside.

“Instantly, I've got this chill creeping up my spine,” Lydia said, standing in the centre of the hallway and turning slowly on the spot. “I feel like there is definitely someone watching us.”

Isaac followed her, focusing on her face as her eyes tracked things they couldn't see. 

“Put an X here,” Derek said, standing just in front of the door. Scott handed his camera to Allison and grabbed the tape out of his pocket. 

“This used to be and old medical lab and office.”

“So maybe this is where they did the experiments,” Stiles offered, quirking an eyebrow at Lydia who didn't respond. Behind her, Derek nodded thoughtfully and shot Stiles a small smile. 

They made their way through the hallway and came across a piece of graffiti that looked as if it had been there for years. 

_'No one can help me'_.

Lydia traced the letters with her fingers and Isaac tracked the elegant movements, catching the dust and tiny flecks of paint that crumbled away beneath her touch. They set up another X there and another in the shower room where the word _DIE_ was written in dripping, red letters. 

Once outside, Lydia gave herself a shake and Stiles put a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

“You ok?” he asked. 

Lydia nodded and offered a tight smile, casting a glance over her shoulder back towards the lab. 

“There's one more place I should show you before we get ready for the lock down,” James said. “The Bell Tower has had numerous sightings of at least a dozen different entities. An old woman asking for directions, a man by the bus stop, a nervous entity in the restrooms and a woman who wanders around inside and out.”

“Are we thinking the man by the bus stop is the same as the one pacing behind the wall?” Isaac asked, turning to Stiles.

“Perhaps. It's more likely to be two different entities though. The one behind the wall didn't seem keen to show themselves.”

James opened up the Bell Tower and they made their way inside. 

“We'll want to set up a static in the restrooms,” Derek said, taking the tape out of Scott's hand to add another X. “And maybe a couple in the hallways?” he asked, glancing over at Stiles who was looking around, pensively. 

“Yeah...”

“You ok?” Derek asked, softly, running a hand gently down Stiles' arm. 

“Yeah, I'm fine,” Stiles glanced over at the camera pointed at them and grinned. “This is gonna be awesome.”


	2. Episode one: Lock Down Bell Tower/Dorms Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Lockdown begins.

_19:05_

“Ok, so we're maybe an hour away from lock down,” Stiles said to the camera, running a hand through his hair. “and Isaac just got off the phone to this guy called Dom who he's worked with a couple of times in the past. Dom was a gaffer on a location shoot here way back in 2004 and he had a few experiences of his own. He told us that hammers and wrenches and stuff like that would disappear and reappear in other rooms, windows would slam shut, they had a microwave on set and that got thrown to the floor. A lot of time they would hear this banging like someone was using the wrenches to hit metal pipes and the noise would just echo for ages through the darkness. It got so bad a couple of the crew quit. Dom told us where these things happened and Derek and Isaac have gone with James to set up a few more X’s.”

“You excited, dude?” Scott asked, with a chuckle.

“F*** yeah, I'm excited,” Stiles said, with a grin. 

***THEPACKPI***

_20:17_

“It's just getting dark out here,” Derek said, leading the way over to the dorms. “So we're heading in to our first lock down. Because the buildings are all separated we've got about three locations we need to cover. So for the first part of the night we're gonna split into two groups. Me, Allison and Isaac will take the dorms and Stiles, Scott and Lydia will be in the Bell Tower. At 2am, James will come and unlock the doors and we'll all head over to the med labs and James will lock us in again until morning.”

“I'd just like to reiterate again,” Isaac said from behind the camera. “How much I hate that we're splitting up. This happens in movies and everyone dies.”

“This isn't a movie.”

“We're hunting ghosts. It's not that much of leap to assume one of us is going to die a horrible, horrible death.”

“Isaac,” Derek said, spinning round to fix Isaac's camera with a stern glare. “Stop being so f***ing dramatic, relax and go get your kit bag.”

“My kit bag?”

“Yes. Your kit bag. You know, the bag with all your kit in that we need to record the whole investigation thing we're doing?”

“Yeah...my kit bag...”

“It's in the Jeep, Isaac.”

“I'm on it.”

_20:45_

“Let's do this,” Stiles said, sticking his tongue out at the camera. He and Lydia headed into the Bell Tower, with Scott just behind them with the camera. He turned as they crossed the threshold and filmed the remaining three members of the Pack giving them a wave. James shut the door and began to link the chain through. 

Isaac focussed his camera on the padlock as James snapped it into place and then watched James tug on the door to show it was locked. 

“See you later guys,” he said, as they headed back to the dorms. James repeated the process with the chains and then gave them a thumbs up through the glass. 

“See you in about five hours,” he said. 

“Can't wait,” Isaac muttered, turning the find himself being subjected to the full Hale glare. 

_21:03_

“Is there anyone here with us?” Stiles asked, moving his camera from side to side. “I'm Stiles. I have Scott and Lydia here with me. We heard there were a few of you that hang around here, scaring people. Why don't you come out and try and scare us?”

Scott had the main camera, whilst Stiles and Lydia each had smaller ones so that they could use the night vision to see where they were going. They each had a flashlight, but tried to use them sparingly so as not to interfere with anything they might catch on camera. The last thing they wanted was to think they'd captured an orb when it was just dust caught in the beam from their flashlights. 

Lydia was holding her camera with one hand and a small device with an antennae in the other. She held it up to the camera. 

“This is an EMF detector,” she explained. “which stands for Electromagnetic Field Detector. Ghosts give off an energy that can be measured through this field. The same energy is given off by electricity so the EMF is by no means fool proof. But if it goes off, and you're not near anything electrical, it's probably because a spirit is nearby.”

The three of them walked through the tower, taking is slow and careful due to the gloomy darkness they were wading through. 

Scott suddenly spun round to look back the way they'd come. 

“Dude, did you hear that?” he said, looking back to Stiles who cocked his head to one side. The night vision made his eyes shine with a ghostly green flare. 

“I didn't...” Stiles cut off and his head snapped up, eyes searching in the darkness. They flittered down to his hand held and back up. 

“Stiles?” Scott asked, voice no more than a whisper. 

“I just saw something dart across the hallway,” Stiles said, eyes now trained on his LCD screen. “Hang on, I'm gonna go back.” He rewound the footage he'd captured and Scott got himself in a position so that he could film the little screen. They watched as the camera turned round so that it was trained on the hallway behind them, Scott's face taking up the left hand top corner of the screen as he listened intently for the noise he'd head before. 

Behind him a dark shape suddenly moved from one side of the hallway to the other.

“Shit,” Scott breathed. “Go back, play it again.”

Stiles rewound it again and they watched a second time as the dark shape seemed to appear from nowhere and then disappear back into the shadows. Stiles looked up at Scott, a grin on his face and a gleam in his eyes.

_22:26_

Derek led the way through the corridors of the dorms, keeping an eye on the LCD screen of the camera in his hand. They'd been there for almost an hour and half and hadn't seen anything. He stopped and turned to face Isaac and Allison. Isaac positioned himself so that he could get them both in the shot. 

“We should head up to Beth's room,” Derek said. “Set up the static cam and then see if we can draw anything out with the dark light.”

“Good idea,” Allison agreed and they headed towards the staircase. 

They were half way up when a loud clang rang out. The three of them froze, craning their necks to look up the winding staircase. 

“Hello?” Derek called, and cocked his head to the side as he listened for a response. 

A second clang rang out and Allison turned round to look at Isaac. 

“Oh my God,” she whispered but fell silent when Derek held up a hand. 

Quietly, they continued on their way up the stairs. As they reached the floor of Beth's room, there was a creak and the muffled snap of a door falling shut. 

“Spread out,” Derek said. 

“Seriously? Why are you so adverse to sticking together?” Isaac whispered harshly. 

“Isaac, I'm talking about spreading out along this corridor. I'm not asking you to go wandering off on your own,” Derek said, with a sigh. 

“You'll be able to see us all the time,” Allison reasoned. “You don't have to be scared.”

“No, it's not that. I'm not scared,” Isaac said, words tumbling out of his mouth frantically making Allison smile. 

Derek shook his head and headed off towards the end of the hallway. He bypassed Beth's room and carried on to the end of the corridor. He heard a click to his left and paused before reaching out and trying to open the door. It was locked. He tried the next one along and the door opened easily, the same with the next one he tried and the next. James had said that all the doors would be unlocked so that they could investigate the whole building. 

Derek reached out and knocked against the door.

“Hello? Is anyone in there?” he asked. 

“Derek?” 

“F***!” Derek yelped, spinning round to find Isaac right behind him. “Are you trying to give me a goddamn heart attack?” he whispered, hand clutched to his chest. 

“Sorry. Did you hear something?”

“Yeah, this door just locked itself,” Derek murmured, shooting Isaac another unimpressed look before he turned back to the door and tried opening it again. It stayed stubbornly shut. He knocked again. “Hello?”

“Shit!” Isaac exclaimed and the two of them fell back against the opposite wall as a loud, answering knock echoed through the hallway. 

“Allison,” Derek hissed, beckoning her back to them. She hurried to their side and pressed an ear to the door. 

“I can't hear anyone moving around in there,” she said. She placed her palm against the door and took a deep breath. “Is there anyone in there? Can you give me a sign that you can hear my voice?”

They waited with baited breath for what felt like forever. 

Suddenly, Allison hissed and withdraw her hand sharply from the door. 

“Oh God, what?” Isaac asked. 

“It burned me,” she said, shaking her hand. 

“So...malevolent then?” Derek asked. 

“Maybe. We need to get inside.”

“Yes, by all means, let's try and get in the room with the psycho ghost that probably wants to kill us. 

“Do you want to hurt us?” Allison asked loudly, ignoring Isaac's comment. “Do you not like us being here?”

“Why don't you open the door and see if you can scare us away?” Derek asked, shooting Isaac a raised eyebrow. The steady stream of muttered cursing from behind Isaac's camera tapered off. 

A click sounded through the silence like a gunshot. Derek reached out slowly and turned the door handle. He pushed and the door swung open.

“Holy...” Isaac breathed, following Derek into the room. 

It was empty. 

“Let's use the dark light in here,” Derek said, putting his bag on the floor and rifling through it. 

“A dark light basically illuminates the zone between our world and the spirit world,” Allison explained. “It's supposed to attract ghosts to the light. So you just shine it around the room and then snap a couple of pictures with an infared camera which will show up anything that was attracted to the light.”

Derek placed his camera on the floor so he could use both hands to pick up the dark light. He had barely taken his hand away from the camera when it shot across the room, like something had kicked it, and smashed into the wall. 

“Jesus f***!” Isaac exclaimed, whilst Derek scrambled away from his bag and onto his feet. 

The bedside lamp suddenly turned on, the bulb flickering harshly, before going out again. Allison took a step towards the lamp and it turned on again. It grew in brightness before the bulb blew and they were plunged back into darkness. Isaac moved towards Derek and focussed the camera on his rapidly blinking eyes. 

“Guys,” Allison said, softly. 

Isaac turned to look at her and saw she was holding the plug for the lamp in her hand. 

“Did you unplug it?” he asked. 

“It was already unplugged,” she said, heading towards them and rewinding her camera. She showed them her screen and they watched her movements towards the lamp, watched it flare brightly causing the screen to distort as the night vision struggled with the sudden brightness, and watched as she pulled the bedside table aside slightly to reveal the plug lying limply on the floor. 

“What the hell is going on?” Isaac said. “I mean, this is a bit more than our average ghost.”

“You're right,” Allison said. “I'm pretty sure we're dealing with a poltergeist.”

_22:42_

“I feel sick,” Lydia said suddenly, leaning against the wall and letting her head hang. 

“Do you think you're gonna hurl?” Stiles said, rubbing a hand across her back. 

“I dunno. I've been feeling nauseous since we got locked in.”

“Me too,” Scott said. 

“Ok lets take five, get you guys some water,” Stiles said, putting his bag down and fishing out a couple of bottles of water and passing them to his friends. 

Scott and Lydia took the bottles gladly and Scott put his camera down on a table by the wall. 

“You guys should have said something,” Stiles said. 

“You don't feel it?” Scott asked. 

“Nah, I'm fine.”

“Huh. Weird,” Scott said. 

Lydia took another big gulp of her water and then put it away in her own bag. 

“Come on, lets head towards the restrooms.”

“Are you actually gonna hurl?” Stiles asked. 

“I don't think so. But James said there was a lot of activity in there and if I'm gonna throw up, I'd like to do it there.”

Stiles chuckled and the three of them made their way to the restrooms just around the corner. 

“So this is the room that James said gets a lot of activity in the form of voices,” Stiles said. Scott handed him a small device from the front pocket of his bag. “So, we're gonna use our little recorder here and see if we can catch some of them as an EVP, which stands for electronic voice phenomenon.”

“This is the hard part for Stiles because it means he has to keep quiet,” Lydia said, softening her words with a playful grin. 

Scott let out a snort of laughter when Stiles rolled his eyes so violently his whole head went with it. 

“Ok, let's do this. Is there anyone here with us that wants to make contact?” Stiles asked. “We're here to listen to you. All you gotta do is speak up.”

The silence after Stiles' words seemed to throb with anticipation. After a few long moments of nothing a sound had all three of them spinning to face each other and share excited looks. 

“Did you...” Scott began but stopped when Stiles held a finger to his lips. 

They stood frozen in the dark restroom for a few long minutes. 

“I think that's it,” Lydia said. “See if you picked it up.”

Stiles fiddled with the recorder and then pressed play. 

_...unexplained muttering..._

_...get out...get out...leave me..._

_...shhhhhhhhh..._

“Oh my God,” Scott said. 

“I bet if when we time that up with the visual, the shh is when Stiles was motioning for you to be quiet,” Lydia said. 

“Can we try it now?” Scott asked, excited.

“Better wait till afterwards. We start fiddling around with it now, we might miss something,” Stiles said.

“Woah dude,” Scott exclaimed.

“What?” Stiles asked, eyes wide. 

“I just saw your breath.”

“What?”

“Like, I can see your breath through the camera. It wasn't doing that before.”

“Are you still here?” Stiles asked loudly. He waited for a second, each breath billowing out of him like a little puff of fog. “Ok, lets clear the room and I'll take a few snaps using the infared.”

Scott and Lydia filed out of the room dutifully, Lydia taking Stiles' camera for him so he could pull out his stills camera. He began to take pictures all around the room but mainly in the place he had just been stood. 

“Those long flashes you can see,” Scott explained. “aren't actually visible to the naked eye. They can only be seen through the night vision on our cameras.”

“Ghost move faster than us. That's why they're so hard so catch on film and why a lot of the time people only catch them in their peripheral vision and they're gone by the time you turn to look,” Lydia added. 

“The camera also records the temperature at the time the photo is taken. This is really useful as spirits can cause the temperature to drop considerably,” Stiles said, coming over to join them. “If you have a picture with something on it and the temperature has plummeted, it almost backs up the visual.”

“Let's see,” Scott said, angling round Stiles to see the screen.

Stiles flicker between the pictures. The first few didn't show anything and the temperature at the bottom read at a steady 75. Five pictures in and everything changed. 

“Dude,” Stiles breathed, smiling over his shoulder into the lens of Scott's camera.

A hazy image could be seen in the centre of the frame. It was impossible to tell if it was a man or a woman, but it was definitely humanoid. A thinner section seemed to be angling towards the camera like an arm pointing a finger accusingly at Stiles as he snapped the picture. The temperature at the bottom of the screen had dropped to 64.

“I want to leave,” Lydia said, pulling Stiles away from the room. 

“Lydia, it's fine. We're fine,” Stiles reasoned. 

“I want to leave this room,” she said, still tugging on his arm.

“Is this a psychic thing or are you just freaked out?” Stiles asked. 

“Dude, just leave the room when the psychic tells you to leave,” Scott said, grabbing Stiles and forcing him from the room.


	3. Episode one: Lock Down Bell Tower/Dorms Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Lockdown Part 2

_23:19_

“A lot of people will tell you that you can't exorcise a room or a building,” Allison said. 

She was crouched over her bag, pulling things out and handing them to Derek who was creating little bags on the floor beside her. They had wedged the door open with the heavy desk and set themselves up in the hallway. Isaac had set up a static cam and was currently sat beside it, fiddling with the shattered remains of Derek's camera. 

“But that's not true. For some reason, this poltergeist has latched itself on to either this room, or this hallway. The best thing for us to do is to conduct a purification ritual.”

“What the hell is a purification ritual?” Isaac asked. 

“We fill these little bags with these ingredients and put them inside the four walls. Normally we would do this on every floor of the house but I can tell that the poltergeist is fixated on this floor. So, we're going to put them in the four outer walls of this floor and also in each of the walls for this room. It feels like this is where it comes the most often, like it's taken up residence here, so if we can get them in all the walls, we stand a good chance of being able to banish it,” Allison explained. 

“Once the bags are in the walls, Ali will perform an exorcism and the two combined should drive it out,” Derek added. 

“Why do you say 'if'?” Isaac asked, looking up from the camera in his hands. 

“What?” Allison asked. 

“You said 'if we can get them in all the walls'. Why 'if'?” Allison and Derek shared a look. “Oh God...what now?”

“Well, the poltergeist will know what we're doing. It's gonna try and stop us,” Derek said, looking back at the circle of cloth he was tying into a bag around the rituals ingredients.

“Stop us how?”

“It will probably attack us,” Derek said, moving the finished bag to the side and pulling the next one towards him. 

“As in...physical violence?”

“Yes.”

“Oh man...”

“Don't tell Stiles,” Derek said, looking up with a small grin. “I want to tell him myself. He's going to be so pissed he missed this.”

“That boy needs serious help,” Isaac grumbled, putting the ruined camera to one side and running his hands through his hair. 

“That's all the bags done,” Allison said, climbing to her feet. “We're going to have to be fast.”

“You said they have to go inside the walls.”

“Yes.”

“Don't you think James is gonna be a bit pissed off when he comes to let us out and finds we've punched holes in his walls?” Isaac said. 

Allison cocked her head to once side and smiled. 

“That's why we're going to do it neatly...and in places that are easily covered.”

“Of course. Good plan,” Isaac said. He put the broken camera in his kit bag and pulled out a smaller spare, handing it over to Derek. He grabbed a reel of duct tape and bent down by the tripod holding the static camera, taping the legs to the floor. Derek turned on his camera and pointed it down at Isaac with a raised eyebrow. 

“What are you doing?” he asked. 

“This thing has already destroyed one camera. I'm not risking this one.”

“You think tape is going to stop it? It's a poltergeist. It's supernaturally strong. I don't think tapes gonna bother it.”

“Do you have any other ideas?” Isaac snapped, looking up into Derek's camera. “No? Then just let me tape it down and let the placebo tape ease my fears.”

There was a beat of silence as Isaac turned back to the tripod, tearing off yet another length of tape and adding it to the base of the tripod. 

“Is this because the camera got smashed? Are you sad? I mean, I know those cameras are like your babies...”

“Bite me, Derek.”

“...Do you wanna have a funeral for it when this is done?”

“F*** you,” Isaac said, giving Derek the finger and ignoring the other man's snort of laughter. 

“When you two are done dicking around, shall we do this thing?” Allison said, with a fond smile. 

“Sure, what's the plan?” Derek asked. 

“Well, firstly, no personal cams. You're going to need your hands free.”

Derek put the camera to the side and rolled his eyes when Isaac grabbed more duct tape. Allison handed each of them a small hammer and a few of the purification bags. 

“Isaac, you take the north and west walls, I'll take the south and the east.” Allison handed Derek four bags and a small smile. “You make a start on the room. We'll join you once are bags are done and help you finish it off.”

Derek nodded and pocketed the bags. Isaac did a quick check of the three static camera's set up; two in the hallway and one in the corner of the room, all three now secured with copious amounts of duct tape. 

“On three, just run,” Allison continued. “Get to your wall, make a small hole, put the bag in and move on. It can't attack all of us at the same time so as long as we're quick, we should be able to do this with minimal damage.”

“We're so gonna die,” Isaac muttered. 

“We're not gonna die,” Derek said. 

“If I die, I'm gonna come back and haunt your ass and all I'll do is just keep following you saying 'I told you. I told you I was gonna die.' Imagine that for the rest of your life. I'll do it, Derek, you know that I will.”

“Isaac! No one is going to die. Just focus.”

“Ready? On three?” Allison said. Derek nodded whilst Isaac just sighed and gripped his hammer tightly. “Three!” Allison shouted and they ran. 

Derek bolted back into the room and headed for the nearest wall, he smacked the hammer neatly into the bottom corner and shoved the bag in. He shifted on the balls of his feet so he was facing the other wall and repeated the process. He was just about to put the bag in, dimly thinking this was way too easy, when he felt something snake around his neck. He dropped the bag as he reached up and grabbed at his neck. 

The cord from the lamp wrapped tighter around him and Derek forced a finger between the wire and his skin and pulled at it desperately. He gasped for air as he fell backwards, back arching as he squirmed and struggled with the invisible force. 

In the hallway, Allison had already done both her bags and was racing back towards the room. A shout from Isaac had her running straight past the room without looking in. Derek saw her flash past and held out an arm, trying to catch her attention but he couldn't shout out, couldn't get enough air into his lungs to even force out a croak. 

Allison rushed to the other end of the hallway where Isaac was holding a hand to his head and looking dazed. 

“Are you ok?” she asked, helping him to his feet. 

“Yeah. Something grabbed me and threw me against the wall,” Isaac said, wincing as he took the hand away from his head. His fingers were coated red. 

“You're bleeding,” Allison said, tugging him round so she could see the back of his head. 

“I'm fine,” Isaac said. “Did you get your bags done?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Yeah, we should go help Derek.”

“Right, yes...you sure you're ok?”

“I'm fine.”

They trotted back to the room and finally, _finally_ they saw Derek. His face was almost purple, his eyes beginning to bulge slightly, the veins in his arms strained as he tugged at the cord. 

“Derek!” Isaac yelled, racing into the room and pulling Derek into a sitting position. He grabbed the cord and tried to force it loose but it he had no more luck than Derek. “It won't give!” 

“Get the bags into the walls!” Allison screamed, grabbing the discarded bag and shoving it into the ready made hole. 

Isaac scrambled to his feet and raced to the other corner. He smacked the hammer into each wall and grabbed the bags. He managed to get on of them inside before he was tugged backwards by his feet. He frantically sought purchase on the floor with his fingers, reaching hopelessly for the bag as he was dragged across the room. Allison vaulted over him, rolled across the floor, grabbed the bag and slammed it into the hole in one swift movement. 

As soon as the bag was nestled safely in the wall, the entire floor began to shake. 

“Regna terrae, cantate Deo, psallite Domino qui fertis ascendit super caelum caeli ad Orientem Ecce dabit voci suae vocem virtutis,tribuite virtutem deo!” Allison yelled, never faltering in her flawless delivery of the Latin, even as Derek writhed on the floor before her and Isaac struggled against the poltergeist's grip to get to his friend's side. 

The floor stopped shaking and Isaac felt the grip on his ankle disappear. He stumbled to his feet and sprinted to Derek's side, Allison hot on his heels. They sank to their knees beside him and Isaac swiftly tugged the cord from around his neck, throwing the lamp clear across the room and not even registering the sound of it smashing into the wall. 

Derek gasped, dragging much needed oxygen into his lungs and then began to cough violently. Isaac helped him move until he was sitting up, rubbing Derek's back as he shifted him across the floor until he was leaning back against one of the walls. 

“You ok?” Isaac asked, face etched with concern. 

Derek coughed some more in answer and Allison grabbed a bottle of water from the bags. Derek accepted the water gratefully and took a careful sip. He hunched forwards over his knees and took deep breaths. No one said anything for a long time, the only sounds in the room Derek's laboured breathing. 

_00:07_

“It's gone pretty quiet over here,” Stiles said. “We haven't really experienced anything since we got the photos and the EVP in the restrooms. I want to do a bit more digging in there but Lydia just refuses to go anywhere near it and Scott won't go anywhere that the psychic is afraid to go so, unless I head off there on my own, I guess we're leaving the restrooms alone.”

“Dude, don't even think about it. It's not happening,” Scott said. “That spirit did not want you in there. There's no way we're leaving you on your own in that room. So just forget it, ok?”

“You're such a killjoy,” Stiles said, with a pout. 

“Well excuse me for wanting to make sure my best friend doesn't die.”

“I'm not gonna die.”

“It's not happening,” Lydia snapped. “You are not being left there on your own so just get over it.”

“Fine,” Stiles said. He let out a sigh and headed off down the corridor. “I guess it's back to walking aimlessly through the hallways and hoping something happens. Like we've been doing for the last hour. Seeing jack shit.”

Lydia glanced at Scott and shook her head exasperatedly as the camera. 

_00:19_

“Are you sure you're ok?” Allison asked. 

 

“I'm fine,” Derek said, even though his voice was still hoarse. 

“You wanna head back to Beth's room?”

“Sure,” Derek said, with a nod.

“Don't you think we should take a little break?” Isaac asked. 

“We just took a break,” Derek replied. 

“Yeah, for like two minutes. Do I need to remind you that you almost just died?”

“No I didn't,” Derek said, attempting to brush the whole thing off. 

“I'm sorry? Did I imagine you being strangled by a pissed off poltergeist? Were you not literally fighting for air like, ten minutes ago?” Isaac snarked, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

“I'm fine,” Derek repeated. 

“Yeah, I'm sure Stiles will see it that way,” Isaac grumbled, pushing past Derek. He missed the way Derek swallowed and took a steadying breath. 

_00:59_

“Did you see that?” Lydia said, flinging out an arm to stop the boys dead in their tracks. 

“See what?” Scott asked. 

“I swear I just saw someone heading around that corner.”

The gleam in Stiles' eye brightened as he lead the way round the bend. They made their way through the winding corridors until suddenly, Stiles stopped and let our a shaky, quiet laugh. 

“Holy shit,” he breathed, reaching out to grab Scott and pull him up beside him. Scott gasped when he saw what Stiles was staring at. 

There was a woman in the middle of the hallway. She was dressed all in white, dark hair tumbling down her back in waves. 

“Hello,” Stiles said. “My name is Stiles. This is Scott and Lydia. Can you hear me?”

The woman didn't turn around, but she did start walking away, long hair fanning out slightly behind her. 

“Wait,” Stiles called, following her.

She stopped again suddenly, white dress twirling in a non-existent breeze. Scott moved into a better angle so he could see the apparition fully on his screen. They'd caught a lot of crazy shit on camera before, but this was a first. She was so corporeal, so... _there_ , it was like she was a living, breathing being. But there was a haziness around here, a blurring to her edges that hinted that something was wrong. 

She slowly turned to face them and they finally got a look at her face. She was beautiful, all pale skin and soft features, with dark eyebrows, dark eyes and thick lips. 

“Hey,” Stiles said, voice filled with awe. 

She smiled and suddenly there was something feral about her. A hunger filled her eyes, a snarl appeared on her lips and her posture became more rigid. The softness of her face was long gone. 

The woman screamed, loud and long, making them jump and throw their hands over their ears.

“Run!” Stiles roared, grabbing Lydia's arm and tugging her back the way they came. Scott threw one last look at the woman before following his friends hasty retreat. They sprinted until they were back at the front doors and finally they stopped. They looked behind them and realised the woman was nowhere to be seen. “Rewind the footage,” Stiles gasped through panting breaths. “Watch it back.”

Scott did as he was asked and cursed. 

“What?” Lydia asked, clutching a stitch at her side. 

“It f***ing distorted,” he said. 

“What do you mean, it distorted?”

“I mean, that the awesome, clear, once in a life times shot I got of our not-so-friendly ghostly lady now looks like a giant lens flare and not much else.”

“Let me see,” Stiles said, snatching the camera from Scott's hands. “No. Nonono, come on!” he muttered as he watched the footage back. The woman was no longer a full apparition, no longer an almost corporeal being. She was nothing more than a hazy shape and a bright light. “F***!”

_01:45_

“Is there anyone here with us?” Allison asked, holding her EMF meter out in front of her. 

They were sat in Beth's room, a static camera trained on the door and the bed, Allison sat on the bed whilst Derek and Isaac sat against the wall off to the side. 

“If you're here, can you give us a sign?” Derek asked, wincing and rubbing at his neck. A red line ran the entire way round and he took another gulp of water as he ignored the concerned look Isaac was shooting him.

“Beth told us you opened her door before. Can you do that for us now?”

“I'm seriously regretting my life choices right now,” Isaac mumbled. Derek snorted a laugh beside him and they shared a smile. 

“You know you love it really,” Derek said.

Isaac thought about denying it but in the end he simply rolled his eyes. 

“Did you come and visit Beth before? Did you want her to see your face?” Allison asked. “Are you lonely? Do you...woah...”

“What?” Derek asked, instantly alert. 

“The EMF just spiked like crazy. Hello? Are you trying to make contact?”

The door flew open with a bang and Isaac's startled yelp was drowned out by Allison's sharp scream. They watched as the door slowly swung shut and the room fell silent again. The three of them stared at each other. No one spoke, they simply waited with bated breath. 

_...unexplained shuffling..._

“Did you hear that?” Allison whispered. 

Isaac grabbed his kit bag and pulled out the EVP recorder. 

“Are you trying to tell us something?” Derek asked. “Try again, we're listening.”

_...play with me...  
... please..._

“F*** this,” Isaac said, scrambling to his feet. “I draw the line at creepy little kid ghosts, ok? That's it. Lahey out. I'm so f***ing done with these f***ing dorms. F***ing poltergeists and doors opening by themselves and getting thrown like a ragdoll, fine. I can deal with that. But kid ghosts? Nah, nope, I'm done.” 

Derek and Allison stared at him as he wrenched the door open and strode from the room. After a few seconds of stunned silence, Derek chased after him. 

“Isaac! Isaac, hold up!” he shouted, racing to catch up with him and grab his arm. 

“No, Derek. This is bullshit. I'm all for finding ghosts and collecting the evidence and God knows underneath all the freaking out and the snarky comments, I f***ing love doing this but kid ghosts? On top of everything else tonight? Are you not even mildly concerned that we are experience a shit-ton of activity, like ten times more than we usually experience? And to top it off, we're not even all together.”

“Ok, I get it, I get that you're freaking out,” Derek said. 

“Why are you not freaking out?” Isaac said, cutting him off. “It's because of Stiles, isn't it? That boy's crazy ass love for this shit is rubbing off on you. You're becoming another fearless, manic ghost lover.”

“You need to calm down. You can't just run from this. We're locked in. Where are you gonna go?”

Isaac hung his head and huffed out a breath. 

“F***. Ok, fine. Fine,” he turned on his heel and headed back to Beth's room. 

* * *

Allison stared after Isaac and Derek and felt a chill run through her. She was all on her own in a room where a creepy dead child was looking for a playmate. Nothing creepy about that. Thanks fellas. 

“H...hello?” she said, softly. “Are you still here? 

A loud thump from the closet made her jump and she clutched her camera tightly. 

“Do you still want to play?”

_...child's laughter_

“I'll take that as a yes. Are we playing hide and seek? Do you want me to find you?”

Silence reverberated around the room. Allison got to her feet and edged towards the closet, swallowing as she reached for the door handle. It flew open before her hand could close around the handle and she stumbled as something brushed past her legs. 

The door opened and Isaac and Derek came back in the room. 

“Grab the stuff. Grab it and go,” Allison said, quickly. 

“Are you ok?” Derek asked. 

“Just grab the f***ing kit,” she snapped. 

_02:15_

They saw James approaching the door of the Bell Tower and Lydia let out a sigh of relief. 

“You ok?” Stiles asked. 

“Yeah, I just want to get the hell away from whatever is in that restroom,” she replied. 

James opened the door and they grabbed their bags and headed out into the cool night air. 

“You guys ok? How was it?” James asked. 

“I'm so glad to be out of there,” Scott said, feeling the tenseness in his shoulders start to abate. Ever since they'd seen the woman, they'd been stood by the door waiting to get out. All three of them were on edge. Lydia and Scott because of the activity, Stiles because of the footage that had screwed up. 

“Let's go get the others,” Stiles said. 

It was a little bit of a walk to the dorms but they arrived soon enough to find the other three waiting right by the door, clearly as eager to get out as they had been. 

As soon as they stepped into the glare of the street light, Stiles' eyes fell on the red mark on Derek's neck. He strode forward and caught Derek's jaw with his fingers, gently shifting his head until he could see his neck clearly. 

Allison quickly filled them in on what had happened, eyes flitting between Stiles and the others. Stiles swallowed and ran his fingers through Derek's hair. 

“Are you ok?” he asked, softly.

“I'm fine.”

“Well actually, no, you're not f***ing fine,” Stiles snapped. “You almost got strangled to death.”

“Yeah, but a poltergeist.”

“Derek...”

“A poltergeist, Stiles.”

“I've created a monster. Do you know that? When you start caring more about the activity and less about the fact that you almost died, you need to re-evaluate the situation.”

“But a poltergeist.”

“I hate you.”

“Because I dealt with the poltergeist and you didn't?” Derek said ducking his head to catch Stiles' eye and grin at him. 

Stiles shook his head and then lent forward to capture Derek's lips in a searing kiss. He wrapped his arms tightly around Derek's shoulders and pulled him as close as he could. 

Scott wolf whistled and then chuckled when Stiles gave him the finger without breaking the kiss. 

“Remember the camera's are still rolling,” Allison called out, with a grin. 

When they pulled back, Derek's smile faltered as he saw the genuine fear in Stiles' eyes. 

“Hey, I'm fine,” he whispered. 

“Don't ever do that again,” Stiles said, closing his eyes briefly before pulling away and heading back to the group, tugging Derek along with him. 

“OK, gang. Let's go,” Stiles said. 

“Lock down part two begins in ten,” Derek added, giving Stiles' hand a squeeze and smiling when Stiles shot him a gleeful grin.


	4. Episode one: Lock Down Med Labs Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lock Down: Medical Labs

_02:30_

James waved at them through the window as he snapped the lock into place and Scott turned his camera away from the door and to the group of ghost hunters behind him. 

“So, the plan was to split back up into threes and try and cover more ground,” Derek explained. “But after everything that's already happened tonight everyone's a bit on edge.”

“We're gonna start off all together and see how things go from there,” Stiles said. “The only thing with investigating in a bigger group is things can happen that hamper the evidence. More people equals more shadows and more noises which can mask paranormal activity.”

“Yeah, we all know if Stiles had his way, he'd run off on his own,” Isaac commented with a grin. 

“Not true. What would I do with out my trusty team?”

“The real reason you don't just do this stuff on your own is because you know that Derek and your dad would flip their shit,” Scott laughed. 

“Whatever, dude.”

They headed off down the hallway which was littered with paperwork. Lydia bent down and picked up a sheet of paper. 

“What does it say?” Scott asked, focussing the camera on her face and catching the sadness and disgust in her eyes as she glanced up at him. 

“It's a report of a patient's response to shock therapy,” she replied, letting the paper drop from her fingers and drift down to the floor. 

They entered a large room that looked like it might have once been a day room. White walls were broken up by large, barred windows caked in grime; the grey linoleum floor was pockmarked and scattered with debris; a few dusty chairs and tables lay in various states of disarray against the wire wall that separated the day area from the sleeping area, which still held a couple of beds. A small office stood in one corner, practically bare save for a discarded desk chair that lay on it's side behind the counter. 

“Shit, this is like something from _'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'_ ,” Isaac muttered. 

“I think this is where they kept the patients who were receiving shock therapy,” Lydia said. “All the paperwork shows us this was where they did it.”

“It makes sense,” Allison added. “To keep the patients they were shocking and experimenting on separated from the others. 

“Scott, Isaac, do you wanna set up your static cams?” Derek asked, gesturing over to the X's they had already marked on the walk through. 

Scott and Isaac nodded and began to set up. Stiles reached into one of the kit bags and pulled out a recorder and the stills cam. He hung the camera around his neck and tucked the dark light in his back pocket. 

“Someone's expecting a lot of activity,” Derek commented with a grin that Stiles returned. 

“No harm in being prepared,” Stiles said. 

The static cams were set up and the six of them had positioned themselves in a large circle. Everyone had their personal camera clutched in their hands, except for Derek, who was holding the EVP recorder, and Stiles, whose long fingers where hooked in his belt loops to stop them reaching for the stills camera around his neck. 

“Is there anyone in here with us?” Stiles called. 

They fell silent as they waited for a response but there was nothing. 

“My name is Stiles. I'm here with Derek, Scott, Lydia, Isaac and Allison. We're trying to make contact with people that were patients here. We've heard that you were treated badly, that the doctors that were supposed to be looking after you used to experiment on you.”

Lydia swallowed and looked down. Isaac caught the movement and focussed his camera on her as he reached out to touch her shoulder. She looked up at him and he raised an eyebrow in question. She smiled in return but her eyes glistened with unshed tears. 

“We just want to know if any of you are still trapped here. Maybe we can help you move on.”

_...unexplained moaning..._

The group shared a look and a tear trickled down Lydia's face. 

“We hear you. You're doing great, buddy. “We're still listening. Come on, talk to us.”

_...help...help me..._

Lydia began to cry silently and Stiles crossed the circle to wrap his arms around her. 

“I can feel them,” she whispered, voice wavering as she fought through the tears. “All the fear, all the sadness.”

“It's ok,” Stiles said, rubbing a hand soothingly up and down her spine. 

“We can help them,” Allison said. “We can help them move on.”

Lydia nodded against Stiles' chest and then pushed away, wiping her hands over her face and giving herself a little shake. 

“Allison, what do you...”

A loud bang echoed through the room and they spun to look over at the caged off sleeping area. 

“What the hell was that?” Scott asked. 

Stiles was already making his way over to the cage and Scott followed him. High up in the wall, a window had opened and was swinging back and forth as if it was caught in a strong wind, like a storm was raging outside in the dark. 

But beyond the window, the air was still and the sky was calm. 

Scott and Stiles shared a look before Stiles reached out and tested the mesh door in the centre of the wall. It sung open easily underneath his hand and they made their way into the cage. 

Derek brushed past Scott and gripped Stiles' arm. 

“Wait,” he whispered. 

Stiles quirked an eyebrow at him but didn't move to push Derek's hand away. It was rare that Derek was rattled by anything they'd seen but tonight there was a tension in the air that had them all on edge and Stiles could almost taste the nervous energy that pulsed through his partner, could feel it in the slight tremor in his fingers. He closed his hand over Derek's and squeezed gently. 

“It's ok,” he said, softly. 

Derek looked away from the window and into Stiles' eyes. The camera caught the look that passed between them, the silent conversation that traversed the bare inches of empty space that separated them. Whatever Derek saw in Stiles' eyes seemed to be enough and he let his hand fall away, fingers trailing down the younger man's arm as they fell. 

A loud snap caught they're attention and all three of them looked up at the window. It had stopped blowing in the non-existant gale and had closed completely. Even from their position on the ground they could see that the latch had locked itself into place. 

“Here, give me a boost,” Stiles said, grabbing Derek's arm and dragging him over to the wall. 

“There's no way you're gonna reach it,” Derek said, even as he cradled his hands together and crouched so Stiles could put his foot in them. 

Stiles grabbed Derek's shoulder and pulled himself up, one foot in Derek's hand and the other pressed against the wall. He reached up and tried to grab the window but his fingers fell short. 

“Hold on,” he muttered, taking his foot off the wall and putting it on Derek's shoulder. 

“Woah, hang on a minute,” Derek said, grasping Stiles' foot and trying to steady himself. 

“You got me, right?” Stiles asked, not waiting for an answer as he put all his weight on the foot on Derek's shoulder and lifting his other foot to Derek's other shoulder. 

Isaac appeared as if from nowhere, camera abandoned to Lydia's hands as he raced forward and grabbed the back of Stiles' legs to make sure he didn't fall. 

“F***ing hell, Stiles,” Derek muttered. 

Stiles reached up and this time, his fingers closed around the small handle for the window. He pulled on it gently but it refused to open. He put a little more weight behind it but the window refused to move. He bent closer and let out a little chuckle. 

“What?” Allison asked. 

Stiles looked down at them, eyes boring down Scott's camera. 

“This window needs a key,” he said. “It's probably been locked since this place was abandoned. How the f*** was it just open?”

“The spirits in this place sure have a thing for unlocking shit,” Scott muttered. 

“Baby? You think you could get down because you're really not as light as you look,” Derek huffed. 

“Sorry,” Stiles said, letting Isaac help him back to the ground. Derek rubbed a hand over his shoulder and gave Stiles a muted glare. Stiles gave him a small smile and fluttered his eyelashes. 

“Can you two focus please?,” Scott said, playfully. 

“Umm, guys?” Lydia called. The group turned to face her and saw she was holding the recorder in her hands. She hit rewind and then play. 

_...unexplained woman’s scream..._

“I think something came through the window,” she said. 

_03:18_

The six of them had left the day room and were walking back through the corridors. 

They'd stayed in the day room for a few more minutes, trying to resume contact with the spirit that had asked for help, but they had experienced no further activity. Lydia was almost beside herself, desperate to help the trapped woman, so they had gone off to search for it. 

“You really think that whatever opened the window grabbed our spirit friend and dragged her off?” Isaac asked, aiming his camera at Allison as they walked. 

“Yeah,” she said, with a nod. “I think we're dealing with a powerful, dark spirit connected to this building. I don't think it came through the window, I think it used the window to distract us so we wouldn’t notice what it was doing.”

“Why would it do that? Why would it be afraid of us?”

“I don't know that it's afraid,” Allison said, with a frown. “I think it knows that we can force it to move on and that we can free the spirits trapped here. It doesn't want us to take them for some reason.”

“What are we gonna do if we find it?” Isaac asked. 

“ _When_ we find it,” Allison said, stopping and making Isaac halt to keep her in frame. “I'm going to exorcise it and we're going to free all the beings it's been keeping caged here.”

_03:43_

“Still nothing,” Stiles muttered, sweeping his EMF reader from side to side as he walked. 

“You think we'll find it?” Scott asked. 

“Definitely. But we'll find it quicker if we split up.”

“No,” Isaac said shortly. 

“Stiles might be right,” Lydia said. “This building isn't huge but there's plenty of places it could go to ground in. I want to find it and I want to find it quick.”

“Seriously? We're splitting up _again_? After everything that happened when we were split up before?” Isaac ranted. “I am so not happy about this, guys.”

“I'm not going with him this time,” Derek said, crossing his muscled arms over his broad chest and Scott caught the way Stiles' eyes lingered. Scott cleared his throat and Stiles grinned at him sheepishly. 

“Dude, seriously. I'm the only one in this damn group that talks sense,” Isaac said. 

“Ok boys, can the snark,” Allison said, with a fond smile. “Derek why don't you go with Stiles and Scott this time, and me and Lydia will go with Isaac.”

“Sounds good to me,” Derek said. 

“Please don't leave me with them,” Scott begged, jokingly. “I can't take the puppy dog eyes and all the lovey protective stuff by myself. 

“Shut up, Scotty,” Stiles said, cuffing Scott gently across the back of the head. 

Isaac stuck his tongue out at Scott's camera and headed off one way with the girls. 

“Noooo,” Scott called out, dramatically.

He turned back to find Stiles laughing whilst Derek shook his head and gave him the patented Hale glare #3. 

AKA 'Boy, what in the hell do you think you're doing?'

_03:49_

Lydia and Allison both had their personal cams out and their flashlights away, using the night vision to see where they were going. They still hadn't seen anything since they split up and the lack of activity, after a long night of one thing after another, was unnerving. 

“Is it me, or does this feel like the calm before the storm?” Allison said. 

“Oh God, why would you say that?” Isaac asked. “What are you trying to do to me?”

“Shut up, Isaac,” Lydia said. 

“Woah, way to channel Hale,” Isaac muttered. “For a minute I forgot he wasn't here.”

Allison laughed and shot him a grin. She opened her mouth to say something when a loud clang echoed through the corridor. 

The three of them stopped short. A second clang ran out, echoing for long seconds through the darkness. 

“It came from that way,” Lydia said, hurrying to follow the noise with Allison at her side. 

“Why the hell am I doing this?” Isaac muttered as he followed the girls. “I'm too young to die and the pay is so not good enough for this.”

They rushed around the corner just as another clang sounded, seeming to come from inside the wall to their left. Allison pressed her ear against the wall as she walked along it. She came to a closet door and yanked it open just as a fourth clang sounded, much louder now the door was open. 

“It came from in here,” she said. 

It sounded like someone banging against old pipes but there were no pipes in the closet. Lydia scanned the walls with her camera and paused, dropping to her knees. 

“What is it?” Isaac asked. 

“It looks like a door to a crawlspace,” she said, reaching out and opening the small door at the back of the closet. 

“Hang on, are you serious?” Isaac snapped, grabbing her arm as she began to crawl through the door, and crouching beside her. “Just stop, ok, stop for one minute. There is something pretty f***ing dark here and we're gonna just follow the creepy banging and get in a crawlspace where that thing could be lurking. Am I the only one that sees something wrong with this?”

“It's gonna be fine,” Allison said. “We're just gonna take a look.”

“No. No we're not. I'm putting my foot down, ok.”

“Isaac, stop freaking out. I know you're scared, we're all a little scared but...”

“No. F*** that. This isn't about fear. This is about using your f***ing head. There is no way we're going in there.”

“Isaac...” Lydia began. 

“No. Get out of the closet, Lydia,” Isaac said, getting to is feet and pulling Lydia up with him. 

Allison stood outside the door, personal camera aimed at the two of them, at the determination on Isaac's face and the annoyed acceptance on Lydia's. 

She also caught the look of terrified shock as the closet door slammed shut. She grabbed the handle and twisted but the door stayed firmly shut. She banged her fist against the wood. 

“Isaac? Lydia?” she shouted. 

There was no reply. 

_04:01_

“One second,” Scott said, handing his camera off to Derek so he could pull out his water bottle and take a swig. 

“How you holding up being stuck with the lovebirds?” Derek asked, causing Stiles to let out a bark of laughter. 

“I think I'm coping pretty well,” Scott replied with a grin. 

“We've got another four hours to get through. Will you be ok if you have to struggle through with us until morning?”

“I think so. Maybe I'll switch with Isaac and you can have him for the rest of the night.”

“No, no, it's ok. I'll stop,” Derek said, handing the camera back to Scott. 

“You guys want to take a look in here?” Stiles asked, opening a door to what seemed to be an office. There were even more papers on the floor, a filing cabinet with a draw hanging open in one corner and an old desk in front of a wall of boarded up windows. 

Derek and Scott followed him into the room. Stiles headed over to the desk and started opening the draws. 

“Should we use the dark light in here?” Derek asked. 

“Sure,” Stiles replied, pulling the dark light out of his back pocket where it was still stashed, and handing it to Derek. 

Scott moved into the door way, out of the way, while Derek turned on the light and began to sweep it across the entire room. Once he was done, he handed the dark light to Scott and then reached out to Stiles for the stills camera. When Stiles made no move to hand him the camera, Derek let his hand fall and turned to look at Stiles. 

“Stiles?” 

Silence was his only answer. 

Derek couldn't see his face in the darkness so he fumbled for his camera on the desk. Once it was in his hands he looked at the LCD screen and got a look at Stiles' face. 

He had sat down at the desk at some point, hands gripping the edge of the wood in a white knuckled grip. 

“Stiles?” Derek asked again, moving closer. 

Stiles looked up and Derek took a step back, Scott suddenly beside him and gripping his shoulder tightly. 

“What the f*** is wrong with him?” Scott asked. 

Derek took in the blankness of Stiles' face; the darkness and cruelty that seemed to have seeped into his eyes; the way there was no recognition as he looked at his boyfriend and best friend, only a general, unnerving hostility.

“Stiles?” Derek said, even though he was pretty sure it wasn't Stiles in front of him anymore. 

A dark smirk played on Stiles' lips as he cocked his head to one side. 

“Afraid not,” he said, voice oozing a calm, smooth menace that made the hair on the back of Derek's neck stand up.


	5. Episode one: Lock Down Med Labs Part 2

_04:15_

Lydia fumbled with her flashlight and switched it on with shaking fingers. The light danced around the room for a few seconds before she focussed the beam on Isaac who was gasping for breath, camera discarded on the floor as he gripped his hair tightly. 

“Isaac?” she stuttered, reaching out to touch his arm. “We're ok. We're ok, right?”

Isaac whined, pulling away from her touch and flailing backwards until he thumped into the wall and slide down it, head still clutched in his hands. 

“Isaac?”

Isaac smacked his head back against the wall and let out a terrified whimper. His breath was still coming in short little bursts and his eyes were screwed tightly shut. 

“Don't. Isaac, you're going to hurt yourself. Please...please stop. Look at me,” Lydia pleaded, crouching in front of him and ignoring Allison banging on the door and calling their names. 

Isaac opened his eyes and Lydia smiled. 

“It's ok,” she whispered, holding out her hand. Isaac took it and she pulled him gently to his feet. His whole body trembled against hers and she quickly threaded their fingers together and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. She reached out and tried the door but it wouldn't open. Isaac gave another little whine at that and tried to take a step away, but Lydia held on to him firmly. 

Another loud clang echoed out of the door to the crawlspace and they both jumped with a frightened yelp. 

Isaac tore free of Lydia's grasp and clawed at the door, throwing himself at it as if he could tear through the wood if he just tried hard enough. 

“Isaac! Isaac, please!” 

Isaac threw his shoulder at the door.

“Isaac! Lydia!” Allison shouted, banging on the door. “Get back, ok? Isaac?”

Lydia grabbed Isaac and pulled him away from the door, screaming his name to try and pull him from the panic that had gripped him. She managed to push him to one side of the door, feeling terrible as she used her body to back him into the corner, locking her knees and bracing herself against the walls as he pushed at her frantically. He was too strong, there was no way she would be able to hold him there for long. 

There was a series of thunderous bangs and then the sound of splintering wood cracked through the air as the door flew open. Lydia threw herself to one side as Isaac scrambled out of the closet, pushing past Allison and tearing off down the corridor. 

“Isaac! Shit!” Allison shouted, grabbing Isaac's discarded camera and chasing after him. 

Lydia fumbled for her own camera and grabbed Isaac's heavy kit bag, throwing it over her shoulder as she raced after them. 

Isaac was heading back to the day room, the most open space they had found in the whole building. He lurched through the doorway and tumbled to the floor in the centre of the room, chest heaving as he took in deep lungfuls of air. The still running static cam in the corner of the room caught every frantic rise and fall of his chest, every whimper, every sob. 

Allison stopped just inside the door and placed the camera down on one of the discarded table. She approached Isaac slowly, being careful not to mask her footsteps so he knew she was coming. She crouched beside him and placed a soothing hand on his shoulder. 

“It's ok, you're ok,” she murmured. 

Isaac scrubbed his hands over his face and pushed himself into a sitting position, hiding his face from Allison as if he was ashamed. 

“Sorry, I...I don't do well with confined spaces.”

“It's ok.”

“I swear, I'm not normally this much of a wimp, I just...”

“Hey. You're not a wimp, ok? Everyone has something their afraid of. You don't have to explain anything to me.”

Isaac nodded and wiped furiously at the tears that still trickled down his face. Lydia came hurrying into the room and let out a relieved sigh, setting the kit bag down as gently as she could just inside the door with boneless arms, before crossing the room to crouch just off to the side of Allison and Isaac, unsure if she should intrude whilst Isaac was still so clearly on edge. 

Slowly, Allison wound her arms around Isaac's shoulders, pulling him in towards her chest. They were silent for a few, long minutes, whilst Isaac's breathing evened out and his body stopped trembling. 

Lydia suddenly shot to her feet, hair flipping out around her as she spun to face the door. 

“Lydia? What is it?” Allison asked, letting her arms drop as Isaac pushed himself to look at Lydia's tense frame. 

“I...I can feel...Something's wrong,” she said, taking a step towards the door. 

“With the others?” Isaac asked, climbing quickly to his feet and holding his hand out to help Allison up, his own fear forgotten in the face of his friends being in potential danger. 

“There's a...darkness around one of them.”

“You think they found it?” Allison asked. Lydia turned to face them, eyes wide and afraid. 

“I think it found them.”

_04:25_

“What do you want?” Derek asked, keeping his camera trained on Stiles face and ignoring the frantic beating of his own heart. 

The thing wearing Stiles' face continued to smirk but said nothing. 

“Why are you doing this?” Scott asked, standing beside Derek, unable to tear his eyes away from his best friend. 

Stiles said nothing. 

“Why?” Derek roared, taking a step towards the desk only for Scott to grab his arm and pull him back. 

Stiles cocked his head to one side, the first movement he'd made in almost two minutes, and regarded them both with cold, calculating eyes. 

The silence was deafening, the stillness unnatural and through the night vision on his camera, Scott could see an unnatural glare in Stiles' eyes that was chilling. He wouldn't answer their questions, so for a few minutes, they gave up asking. They simply stared, not knowing what to do. 

Running footsteps from the corridor made Scott and Derek glance behind them. They shared a look just as Lydia, Isaac and Allison rushed into the room. 

“Stiles?” Lydia asked, voice tight with worry and fear, fingers trembling from the power she could feel pulsating through the room. 

“Something possessed him,” Derek said, terrified eyes locking on Allison. “What do we do?”

Allison took a step forwards, leant over the desk and regarded Stiles with a hunters eyes. Whatever she saw had her stepping away and taking Derek's arm, pulling him along with her. She shrugged her bag off and crouched on the floor, rifling through the contents. She stood up with a flask in her hands, unscrewed the cap and sent the contents flying over Stiles in one swift move. 

He blinked as the liquid splashed across his face, but otherwise didn't react. 

“Hmmm, not a demon,” she muttered under her breath. “I think it's just a spirit.”

“You say that like it's a good thing,” Isaac said, shaking his head. 

“This night is literally the most f***ed up investigation we've ever done,” Scott sighed. 

“You can get it out of him, right?” Derek asked, and the fear in his voice was tangible. 

“Yes. I just need to...”

“He's freaking out, you know?” Everyone snapped round to look at the thing wearing Stiles' face. He chuckled, leaning forward in the chair to rest his arms on the desk. “He's begging me to let him go.”

“Shut up,” Derek growled. 

“It's one of the doctors,” Lydia said, before the thing could get another word out. “One of those monsters that used to experiment on these poor people.”

“You're calling me a monster? I'm not a monster. I was trying to cure these people.”

“You can't cure with shock therapy. It's just torture,” Lydia snapped. 

Stiles stood and swept everything off the desk in one ferocious movement. 

“I didn't torture, I healed,” he roared. “I looked for a way to save and cure. What do you do that is so pure? You disturb the dead, you taunt them, you force them from the place they call home...and I'm the monster?”

“That's not true,” Derek said, but Lydia turned her back on Stiles. 

“Ignore it. It's trying to provoke us,” she said. 

Allison was still rooting through her bag. 

“But that's not true, that's not what we're doing. Stiles would never say that,” Derek said, trying to push past, only to have Isaac grab his arm and pull him back. 

“It's not Stiles, man, ok? Just remember, it's not him,” Isaac said, coming to stand beside him and effectively blocking Allison from the things view. 

“Are you still torturing those poor souls?” Lydia demanded. “Is that why she was asking for help? Why she was gone after you opened that window?”

One side of Stiles' mouth turned up in a sinister smile. 

“You're still tormenting them. Isn't it enough they're dead? Did you kill them?”

“Some died during the procedure. These things happen.”

“You really are a monster,” Derek spat. 

“What are you gonna do? You can't hurt this meatsuit without hurting him,” Stiles taunted. 

“I don't need to hurt you,” Derek said. “I just need to distract you enough to give Allison time to do this.”

He stood to the side with one quick movement to reveal Allison standing in a large circle of salt. Quickly they all jumped over the line until they were safe behind it's white borders. 

“You think you can hide behind salt?” Stiles said, with a laugh. 

“No, I just need to stop you from getting me while I do this,” Allison said. “Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas,” the Latin flowed from Allison's lips like it was her first language and finally, something akin to fear showed in the things eyes. 

“No, wait,” he begged, making as if to rush them only to be stopped dead by the salt line around them. 

“Omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica, in nomine et virtute Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, eradicare et effugare a Dei Ecclesia, ab animabus ad imaginem Dei conditis ac pretioso divini Agni sanguine redemptis.”

Stiles screamed, back arching as his eyes glowed white. Derek went to run to him but Allison threw her arm out to stop him. White hot tendrils sparked under his skin, his body convulsed and shook and then went suddenly limp as he dropped to the floor. 

For a second no one moved, no one breathed, as they stared at the crumpled form of their friend on the floor. 

Suddenly, Stiles groaned and curled over onto his side slightly. Derek pushed everyone aside and slid onto his knees beside Stiles. He caught the younger man's face in his hands and tilted it up so he could look his boyfriend in the eye. Scott followed him, camera still raised even as he rushed to see if his brother was alright. 

“Stiles? Baby, can you hear me? Are you ok?” Derek said, voice soft and tender, almost begging as he brushed Stiles damp hair away from his forehead. 

Stiles blinked up at them, eyes foggy and confused. 

“What happened?” he said, sitting up slowly with Derek's help. 

“Are you ok?” Derek asked again. 

“Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. What happened?”

“You don' remember?” Isaac asked. 

“No, uh, the last thing I remember is handing Derek the black light.”

“Should we show him?” Scott asked. 

“I don't know if that's a good idea right now,” Lydia said. 

“I just want to get the hell out of here,” Isaac said. 

“Show me what?” Stiles asked. 

“Later,” Derek said. 

“No, now,” Stiles said. He looked around at the rest of the team, not missing the way everyone avoided his eye. “What the f*** happened?”

“Stiles...”

“Show me,” he demanded. 

Derek sighed but nodded up at Scott and Isaac. They shared a look and then Isaac mimicked Derek's sigh and began to rewind his footage. It whirred and then turned off. 

“Damn, batteries out,” he said.

He headed over to the kit back to grab a fresh battery while Scott rewound his footage to save them having to deal with an impatient Stiles. Lydia and Allison moved into better positions with their personal camera's in hand to make sure they got some footage of his reaction. Scott hit play and handed the camera over to Stiles. 

They watched as his face went from confusion to shock to something like fearful fascination. 

“I don't remember any of this,” he said. 

“It was the weirdest thing I've ever seen,” Scott said. 

“It's like I'm a different person.”

“That's because it's not you,” Derek said. 

Stiles nodded but his eyes looked unsure, struggling to differentiate between himself and the thing using him to speak. Before Derek could reassure him anymore they were distracted by Isaac practically throwing his camera away from him, only saved from having another one of his precious cameras destroyed by the soft lining of the kitbag as it tumbled back in amongst the wires and batteries. 

“Isaac?” Allison asked softly, recognising the look in his eyes as the one she had seen after his frantic run to the day room. 

“I rewound too far,” he said, voice barely more than a whisper. 

Allison slowly plucked the camera out of the depths of the bag. She looked at the LCD screen and gasped. Lydia was there in seconds, camera held before her. 

“What is it?” she said. 

Allison turned the camera to face her and the others gathered around. 

On the screen, Isaac was freaking out, smacking his head against the wall before scrambling to his feet and throwing himself at the door in his desperation to escape the confines of the closet. 

At the bottom of the screen, through the still open crawlspace door, a pale face stared out at the camera, with pleading eyes. 

_05:10_

“I'm not going back in there,” Isaac said, pacing around the day room. 

“No one expects you to go back,” Allison said. 

“I'm not staying here by myself either,” Isaac snapped. 

“No one is asking you to do that, sweetheart,” Lydia reassured him. 

“We should get the f*** out of here. Please, let's just go,” Isaac begged. 

“Look,” Stiles said, stopping Isaac by placing both hands on his shoulders. “I know tonight has been pretty freaky and I know this is your first real investigation but you can't let this stuff break you, ok? This is what we do. We don't expect you to go into the crawlspace, but we do expect you to see this through until James comes to let us out.”

“How are you so calm?” Isaac turned to Derek. “How is he so f***ing calm?”

“I have no idea,” Derek said, running a slightly shaky hand through his hair. 

“There's something wrong with you,” Isaac muttered. 

“Maybe.”

“Definitely.”

“Ok, yes, I'm a freak of nature. I live for this stuff.”

“You got possessed by a psychotic dead doctor.”

“Yes, yes I did.”

“And you're just fine?”

“Not really thinking about that right now. I'm thinking that that doctor was holding a lot of souls here against their wishes and now that we know that, we need to set them free.”

“Well, when you put it like that...”


	6. Episode one: End of Lockdown/Analysis

_05:30_

“So, we're heading into the crawlspace now,” Stiles explained. “We're leaving Isaac and Allison in the hallway outside for...obvious reasons. Me and Lydia are going to head into the crawlspace and see what's in there, and Derek and Scott are gonna wait here inside the closet unless we need them.”

“You sure you're ok to go in there?” Scott asked. 

“Yeah man, I'm fine. I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna freak out a lot later, but right now...I'm ok.”

“You ready?” Lydia asked, appearing at Stiles' shoulder. 

“Yep, let's go.” Stiles gave the camera a thumbs up. “See you in a bit.”

“Be careful,” Derek warned and Stiles pressed a quick kiss to his lips as he sidled past him and slipped through the little doorway. 

Derek crouched beside the door and shone his flashlight after them. 

“What's down there?” Scott asked, after almost five minutes of total silence. 

“Guys, get down here!” Stiles called. 

Scott and Derek shot a look at Isaac and Allison who nodded. With a littler bit of passing the main camera back and forth they both managed to edge their way into the crawlspace. 

Except it wasn't so much a crawlspace as a full on basement. The place was huge and was tall enough for Derek to stand up at full height. 

“What the hell? Why the hidden entrance?” Derek wondered out loud. 

“Some people think there's still a morgue under the library,” Lydia said. “I think this is a similar place.”

“For people that died because of the doctor's experiments?” Scott asked. 

Lydia nodded and led them across to the other side of the basement where Stiles was stood before a wall of drawers. 

“What's in them?” Derek asked. 

“This,” Stiles said, sliding one of the drawers open with a grim expression.

The drawer was packed with round copper cannisters. Derek quirked an eyebrow at Stiles who pulled one of them out and opened the lid. 

It was an urn. Inside was someone's ashes. 

“They're all like that,” Lydia said. “Every single drawer.”

“I don't understand,” Scott said. Stiles pointed over his shoulder and Scott turned to see a large cremator at the far end of the basement, a large pipe heading up through the ceiling and no doubt all the way up inside the to the roof. 

“They used to cremate people down here,” Stiles said. “Patients would die during the experiments and they would burn the bodies and shove the ashes in these drawers.”

“Oh my God,” Derek breathed. 

“It's probably why there's so much activity here. Why that woman was asking for help,” Lydia said. 

“What do we do?” Derek asked, looking to Stiles. Scott swung back round in time to see Stiles shake his head, hopelessly. 

“I don't know,” he said. “I don't know.”

_07:35_

“It's almost time for James to come back and let us out,” Derek said, looking dejectedly at the camera. “We tried to make contact with the woman, or any other spirit trapped here, but we were unsuccessful this time. Stiles thinks it's because so much happened here tonight it knocked the energy all over the place.”

“What do you think?” Isaac asked. 

“I think they didn't want to speak to us anymore. I think they spent the entire night trying to show us what was down there, trying to lead us to that room and once they'd done that, they'd had enough.”

“We exorcised the doctor,” Isaac reminded him. “He can't hurt them anymore.”

“But they're still trapped somewhere where they suffered so much in life.”

“What can we do? How can we free them?” Isaac asked and Derek smiled. 

“I'm not sure yet, but we'll find a way.”

_08:03_

James unwound the chain and the group picked up their bags. Isaac was through the door almost before it opened and Stiles chuckled softly at Scott's camera. 

“How was it?” James asked. “Did you see anything?”

“Oh yeah,” Stiles said, clapping his hand on James' shoulder. “We saw a lot.”

***THEPACKPI***

“Hey guys,” Stiles said. He and Derek were sat at a table across from the cameras. “So this is the part where we kind of run through all our footage with an independent analyst. But before we get into that, we want to talk about the ashes we found in the basement at Cal State.”

“We sat down with the directors of the university and explained what we'd found,” Derek said. “A few of them were sceptics so they were a bit dismissive of us at first but when we showed them the ashes, they took notice of that. They may not believe that one of the victims led us there, but they can't deny what we found.”

“A project is being set up to try and find any living relatives of all those people who's ashes were hoarded in the basement,” Stiles continued. “In some cases, it should be easy because the names and patient ID's are clearly marked on the cannisters.”

“For others, not so much,” Derek admitted. “Some of the labels have worn away and in some cases, the copper cannisters have fused together.”

“For anyone that isn't claimed within two years, a ceremony will be held to finally allow those people the goodbye they deserve to allow them to rest in peace.” Stiles sighed. “If you know of anyone who may have perished here, please head on over to our website and take a look at our links page. As soon as the full database of all the abandoned souls is complete, you'll find a link to it there.”

“Let's do what we can to help these people escape that place,” Derek said, with a sad smile. 

***THEPACKPI***

“Welcome to analysis,” Scott said, with a grin. “I've roped my buddy Danny Mahealani here into taking a look at our footage and of course, we have Stiles here with us because he can't be missing from any section of the process or he'll start pouting.”

“Screw you, Scotty.” 

Danny let out a laugh and spun a little in his chair. 

“Danny's job is to go through our footage with a fresh eye and make sure what we caught on camera can't be debunked.”

“I've had a brief look through,” Danny said. “and I don't think tricks of the light and shadows can explain a lot of what you saw. Possession? Pretty hard to get that confused with a camera fritz.”

“You're telling me,” Stiles said. 

“Ok, well, let's start with the guy in the courtyard,” Scott said, queuing up the footage from when they first arrived at the university. 

“This was great,” Danny said, fiddling around with a few things on the Mac. “Right off the bat, we've got an entity making itself known. I enhanced the audio and there's something else you didn't notice at the time.”

He pressed play and on the screen Stiles called out. 

“Is someone there? If you're there just pop your head up and say hi for the camera.”

_...hi_

“Oh my God,” Stiles said, leaning forward in his chair. “Holy shit, did he just say 'hi'?”

“That's awesome,” Scott said.

“Now the problem we have is that its really hard to get the visual of what's on the other side of the wall. Scott gets a fairly good angle here and we can see most of what's behind there but there is still the chance that someone could have been right near that wall, hidden away. However, even if there was, I doubt you would have got such clear footsteps if it was someone human. The leaves and bushes would have made that impossible because they would muffle ordinary footsteps.”

“So you reckon spirit?” Scott asked. 

“Yeah, I do,” Danny said, with a nod. 

“Our next bit to show you is the dark shape we saw cut across the hallway.”

“This is a pretty open and shut case. I analysed all the light sources and we can see all your shadows, here, here and here,” Danny circled three shadows with his finger on the screen. “They stay motionless but this fourth one here, darts across the hall. I'm pretty sure it's a shadow person.”

“A shadow person is normally a sign of a malevolent entity so that ties in with the other things we experienced in the Bell Tower,” Stiles said. 

“Yeah, if we jump to the woman we saw, we can kind of link the two together,” Scott said. 

“It's such a shame that the video distorted. I played around with it and tried to clean it up as best I could and you can just about make out that it's a woman.”

“Why do you think it did that?” Stiles asked. 

“Well, to be honest, I think it's because she wasn't at full power yet. She's managed to control her power enough that she can be seen with the naked eye and that is some feet, but it doesn't look like she's yet able to manipulate her surroundings.”

“Like, moving stuff, banging on shit, that kind of thing?”

“Yeah, exactly. She's focussed on becoming visible, she wants to be seen. But that visual just isn't transferable to the camera yet.”

“Ok, so our last piece of evidence from the Bell Tower is from the restrooms,” Scott said. 

“Ah, man the restrooms. Dude, at some point, someone needs to go back there and exorcise that thing.”

“For real?” Stiles said. 

“Oh yeah, it's a bad mother. Lydia could obviously feel it, that's what made her so uneasy. I timed the EVP up with the camera's visual and the shhh definitely happens at the same time as you put your finger to your lips. I cleaned it up and there was another second layer of EVP.”

“On this one too?” Stiles said, surprised. 

“Yeah listen.”

_...don't..._  
...get out...get out...leave me...  
...run...  
...shhhhhhhhh...  
...no, no...leave them 

“Holy shit, there's two of them,” Scott breathed. 

“Exactly. This first voice sounds more like a woman and you can hear her say 'don't' to start with. It's not clear if she's talking to you or the other spirit but I _think_ she's talking to him. Then she tells you to run. In the shhh you can hear he's mocking you, but she tells him to leave you alone.”

“But we stayed and took the pictures,” Stiles said. 

“Yeah and the picture is really interesting. it looks a lot like ectoplasm. I think something was forming. I can't tell if it was the spirit that was trying to protect you or the one that meant you harm, but from the feeling Lydia got, I'd say it was probably the latter.”

“Could he actually hurt anyone?” Stiles asked. 

“No, I don't think so. Not yet anyway. Again, he isn't strong enough to manipulate his surroundings. But give it a few years and if he wanted to, if she was no longer able to control him, he could do some damage.”

“What about our screaming lady?” Stiles asked. 

“I'd say it will take about fifteen to twenty years for her. But at some point, these two spirits are going to be looking to do some damage.”

“I might see if Allison will give Chris a call, get him to swing by,” Stiles said to Scott, who nodded, thoughtfully. 

“What about the kid ghost in the dorms? Should we be worried about that?” Scott asked. 

“The kid is harmless. He just wanted to play. There's no hidden levels on the EVP. He's a creepy little dude, but he's harmless.”

“Well, that's something,” Scott said, making Stiles chuckle. 

“The poltergeist activity that Derek caught is amazing,” Danny said. 

“Oh God, please don't,” Scott said with a laugh. “Stiles has been bitching about how he missed it ever since we left.”

“Yeah, and Derek has been gloating because he's an ass,” Stiles said, huffing a laugh that didn't quite reach his eyes. Scott gave him a knowing look and Stiles tried to brush it off with a tight smile. He and Derek hadn't really talked about the whole near death thing yet.

“This poltergeist had a lot of energy but it wasted a good chunk of it and to be honest, it's probably the only reason the purification ritual worked.”

“What do you mean?” Scott asked. 

“Well it was turning lights on and off, flinging people around, banging about and throwing things to make itself known. But the big one was the heating up of the door. That takes a crazy amount of energy and it weakened it. Once the ritual was happening, it panicked because it knew it was going to work. That's why it was attacking them so forcefully, to try and get them to withdraw. Normally, a purification ritual and an exorcism has a fifty/fifty chance of actually working.”

“So, it wasn't sure fire?” Stiles asked, looking a little green.

“No, definitely not,” Danny said, with a shake of his head. 

“Wow, so Derek really did almost die,” Stiles said, softly. 

“You ok?” Scott asked, looking concerned. 

“Yeah, yeah...just seems so much more real now that I know there was a high possibility of the ritual not actually working.”

“Well, if we're honest, that was nothing on your possession,” Danny said, with a shrug.

“Oh, so we're jumping to that,” Stiles said. 

“Yeah, I think we are,” Danny replied, crossing his arms over his chest and giving Stiles a hard look. “Dude, you are playing with fire. Splitting up was a bad call. You knew there was something malevolent in there, the day room EVPs show that.”

“We only heard someone asking for help,” Stiles said, looking confused. 

“No, you also got that scream after the locked window flew open. And Lydia said she thought something came through it.”

“We're you able to find anything else on the EVP?” Scott asked. 

“Yeah, I was. And this just shows how much activity is really happening in that place, because I've never had some many EVPs given to me that had multiple layers.”

“What was on this one?” Stiles asked. 

“Basically, when you guys were distracted by the window, there was a whole conversation going on. Listen.”

Danny pressed play and they listened to the faint sounds of Stiles clambering onto Derek's shoulders. 

_...please..._  
...move...  
...please no...  
...I'll kill them...I'll kill them all...  
...no...  
...woman screaming... 

“Jesus,” Stiles said, shaking his head. 

“He threatened to kill you all. He was a bad son of a bitch. You guys split up and only one person in your team knows the exorcism. If you insist on splitting up in the future, you need to address that problem.”

“Isaac is gonna love this,” Stiles muttered. “Smug bastard.”

“Seriously, Stiles,” Danny said, face earnest as he leant forward to stress his point. “You were lucky Allison got back because I have no doubt that the doctor could have used your body to kill everyone. He might not have been strong enough to do it in his spirit state but in your body, he could definitely have carried out his threat.”

“Noted. I'll sort something,” Stiles assured him. 

“Good. Because this time, you were really lucky.”

Scott looked at Stiles with shell-shocked eyes. None of them had realised how bad the possession had really been. 

“Ok, I get it. Back to analysis. What's next?”

“My favourite bit of your whole investigation. The spirit that led you to the ashes.”

“Ah man, I swear. If I never achieve anything else in my life, we did good with this,” Stiles said, grinning. 

“You really did. All those people, forgotten about in drawers, are going to be able to pass on because you guys followed the clues and found them. The spirit that led you to them was so clever,” Danny said, smiling softly. “Using noise to bring you to the right place, probably using up all it's energy to show it's face once it realised it hadn't quite drawn Isaac and Lydia in. It's only mistake, was closing the door because that made Isaac freak and run. But it seemed to know that and it seemed to know the camera was there because it is literally looking right down the lens which is amazing.”

“I think it tried to do this before, back in 2004,” Stiles said. “There was a film crew there and they heard loud clangs that seemed to come from the crawlspace but they didn't check it out.”

“Why would they? Only crazy people like us would willingly go diving into a haunted crawlspace,” Scott said, with a grin.

“True,” Stiles laughed. 

***THEPACKPI***

“So, after our analysis with Danny, we can see that there was even more activity going on around us then we were aware of,” Stiles said, looking down Scott's camera. “That's the great thing about bringing our evidence to someone like Danny. He always cleans it up, he always finds more. I don't think this is an investigation any of us will ever forget. It's given us a lot to think about. There's a few things we need to change, ways we need to adapt, not just to improve our evidence, but to keep ourselves safe. We came a lot closer to joining the other side than any of us could have realised.”

“Isaac is never gonna let us split up again, dude, you do realise that, right?” Scott said. 

“He'll be ok. We'll get Allison to give us a crash course on the basics and we'll be fine.”

***THEPACKPI***

_Cal State University. One of the most haunted universities in America. We thought we were prepared, but even we could never have imagined what we would see within it's walls._

_Why did we experience so much? Was it because we taunted the spirits? Because they could sense what we were there to do? Could they feel Lydia's power, drawn to it like a moth to a flame?_

_Or were we just that lucky?_

_Who knows. All we do know, is that there are thousands of haunted places in America that we haven't seen yet. Still plenty of places to investigate._

_We're just getting started._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's it...kind of...
> 
> you may be pleased to know (hopefully someone will be pleased!) that the Tumblr is still going and there a few little extras on there, Episode 2 is in the works and a couple of behind the scenes oneshots are in the writing stage. 
> 
> So, if you would like to see more of this, keep your eyes peeled. 
> 
> Also, I have changed the name of this, just to add the episode title in. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone that has read and I hope you stick around for more :)

**Author's Note:**

> Got a question for The Pack? Want to ask in depth questions about their pasts? What motivates them? Things they've seen? Things that still keep them up at night? Or just want to ask about that relationship you think you spy on the show or how their families feel about what they do or hell, maybe you're just interested in their favourite scary movie?
> 
> Head on over to http://pack-pi.tumblr.com/ and ask away! You'll also be able to find tweets from the team and their loved ones, random little pieces of information on pack members and more!
> 
> Have a question for the author? Sure, you can find me here: http://we-are-our-secrets.tumblr.com/ Come find me, say hello, leave me a prompt, go crazy!


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